US might delay switch-off of analog TV broadcasting

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KiwiME

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#29495 9-Jan-2009 13:17

http://tvdecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/obama-recommends-delay-in-digital-tv-switch/?hp

Be aware that in the US:

1. The pending obsolescence of all items with analog-only tuners have been posted by law at the point of sale for several years.

2. The federal government has been providing up to two coupons worth $40 each towards a set top terrestrial box for each household to help ease the transition to digital. The boxes are about $60 last I checked.

NZ's analog turn off is imminent too, yet I don't any effort by our government to discourage sales of all those items such as DVD/HD recorders that will be relatively useless in a few years.

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#188391 9-Jan-2009 14:33

The reality is ASO is likely to occur sometime around 2014 or 2015. There isn't a single HDD/DVD recorder in the market here that supports H.264 and there won't be any DVD recorders that can do this anyway unlike other countries who use MPEG2.

If NZ is still selling analogue only devices in 2 years time I'd certainly be calling for something to be done regarding because in 2012 a definate date for ASO will be set and there will at least be an awareness that this is going to happen. Many people seem to think Freeview is some sort of compeition for Sky - they don't realise it is the new flatform for FTA TV in NZ.

KellyP

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#192386 27-Jan-2009 21:22

it happened

http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/26/digital-tv-transition-officially-delayed-until-june-12th/

Except for Hawaii which switched a fortnight ago.

gehenna

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#192387 27-Jan-2009 21:30

That's gotta suck for all the people who put in the hard work and effort to get things organised for the original switch date. Must have cost a fair amount to get the message out to the public too. Why delay the inevitable? It's not like another 6 months is going to ensure the message reaches Joe Bloggs in his trailer who doesn't have the internet or read the paper, and only watches Dr Phil and infomercials.

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#192670 29-Jan-2009 09:54

I spoke too soon

http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/28/digital-tv-transition-delays-fails-to-pass-in-house/

February 17th it is

Nety

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#192680 29-Jan-2009 10:16

James Bond: I spoke too soon

http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/28/digital-tv-transition-delays-fails-to-pass-in-house/

February 17th it is

As engadget says.. good stuff.

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#192700 29-Jan-2009 11:59

sbiddle: Many people seem to think Freeview is some sort of compeition for Sky - they don't realise it is the new flatform for FTA TV in NZ.

The comments that came back from our questions to freeview seemed to indicate that freeview themselves seem to believe they are in competition with SKY. (Myfreeview recorder name etc). I thought it was a government initiative move to a modern platform, but in typical fashion it seems they need to break even just like a new company and active encourage companies to join them. I'd love to see some new ruling whereby any channel being broadcast on the analogue format has to be on the freeview one as well, eg Prime!.

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#192817 29-Jan-2009 22:31

I would hate to see any ruling of the sort, as thats just unnessacary regulation of something that is none of the governments business.

as far as I am concerned, they have paid for a channel, they can transmit what they like on it. If they choose to send morse code and a black and white video signal then so be it.

I was quite a fan of some of the posts on one of the tech blogs about what they should do with the analog broadcast before shut off and do things like shrink it with a ticker about shut off and stuff.

Richard rich.ms

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old3eyes

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#192858 30-Jan-2009 08:20

I would like to see a GOV ruling that says something along the lines that as from April 01.2010 no analog only TV or DVD or DVR recording devise can be sold in NZ. The only exception VCRs and CRT TVs under 20" as both of those are on their way to extinction..

Regards,

Old3eyes

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#192867 30-Jan-2009 09:19

old3eyes: I would like to see a GOV ruling that says something along the lines that as from April 01.2010 no analog only TV or DVD or DVR recording devise can be sold in NZ. The only exception VCRs and CRT TVs under 20" as both of those are on their way to extinction..

I actually think every non IDTV or DVD/VCR sold from now should have to carry a warning. The reality is ASO will probably occur in or around 2014. I think 5 years is a good timeframe to start warning people that their sets won't work without a STB.

The problem however is that a confirmed date for ASO won't be set until 2012. I suspect that until 2012 when that happens nothing will really change.

I think it'll be safe to say pretty much every current model TV in the marketplace at the end of this year will be an IDTV, it'll only be people trying to import cheap rubbish and target the low end of the maket (and naive consumers who aren't aware of Freeview) that don't have them.

As for DVD recorders - that poses a problem because you simply can't have a DVD recorder that supports H.264 and the price of BluRay/HDD units is still prohibitive. People will always want a way of permanently storing recordings off TV despite the fact they are actually breaking the law doing this.

richms

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#193001 30-Jan-2009 21:25

There should be no laws limiting the sale of items that are perfectly fine with no tuner for lots of people.

A notification that analog broadcasting will cease on a certain date should be displayed once that date is sorted, but as it is they are just saying they will decide on a date in 2012 - about 4 years too late to decide IMO.

Switchoff should be as soon as possible IMO.

Richard rich.ms